Garden, Cabin, and Warm Days

We have been so fortunate to have had a few weeks of warm weather and it has caused a burst of outside activities. Building a garden was one of our big accomplishments. Here is a photo of our poor car pulling a trailer with 12 two-by-sixes and 2 cubic yards of soil.

Notice the rocks behind the tires? We were only able to make it half way up our driveway until we lost traction on some loose rock and started slipping backwards. After we removed the wood for the garden boxes we were able to get the rest of the way up. And now, here is a picture of our garden (the boxes).

The ground is so rocky that digging holes to fill with dirt is almost impossible. Also having them up in boxes helps keep them warmer during the day, which this time of year is almost always.
We also spent some time at the public use cabin on the nature center trails.
Here are Nicki and Leo enjoying time outside the cabin.

Here are Nicki and Leo inside the cabin.

Leo eating toasted marshmallows.

Our friend Danny who works at the nature center came out to visit us at the cabin and brought the Alaskan hiking essentials in her purse: Bottle of wine, bear spray, and wine glass.

Back at the yurt, here is a picture of the smaller members of the family enjoying the abundant sunshine.

And finally the view from the deck of the now extremely green valley.

Landscaping, Marauding Moose, and Leo the Robot

With the snow gone we have come to realize that the bare ground around the yurt is quite unattractive. Our solution? Landscaping. We have been busy spreading grass and wildflower seed and making rock pathways. We have some plans for some flower boxes and a small vegetable garden. Here is a picture of the new rock pathway leading from the yurt deck to the shed.

We also did some more work on our fire pit to make it more permanent and better lined with rocks. Some how I manages to landscape the number 6 into our yard.

Right by the shed you can also see a sand(rock)box we made for Leo.
The leaves are returning to the trees for their short growing season. They will be all gone again by late September. Here is a picture from the deck with the greening trees and low lying fog (also a strictly summer phenomenon.)

There are a lot of moose about now. They are having a great time nibbling on the willow and alder buds. We were woken up one morning by Georgie's loud barking to find this guy hanging right outside our window.

Leo and I had to run away from one the other day while we were playing in the driveway. I was clearing brush and Leo playing in water of the culvert and a moose decided to amble on towards us. The dogs were out so after I got Leo inside I had to round up the dogs who were attempting to round up the moose.
Oh, and speaking of Leo, the rumors are true. He has officially turned into a robot.

April Happenings

The snow has finally left the yurt property. There are only a few more patches left where the winter plowing piled it up high. Getting Leo outside is much easier without having to bundle him up in 5 layers. Here Leo is roasting a hot dog in our fire pit out back.

He loves roasting them but absolutely refuses to eat them. By the end, this makes for a very full papa.
The inside of the yurt has been full of music and dancing. Here we are at another refined and somber Schneider meal.

Besides listening to music from inside the yurt, we have also been listening to woodpeckers. They have moved in with force (sometimes 3 on a single tree) and we hear them knocking all day long. One has even taken up residence and is pecking out a home in one of our trees.

I'm still busy making puzzles. Here is one that I gave to the nature center auction. It depicts the view of the valley from our house.

Even though the snow is gone from the house we are still out there enjoying it. Here is a picture of a parasailer we saw on a recent cross-country ski trip. It seems Eagle River is a bit of a hot spot for this sport. I recently saw 10 of these guys floating around at one time.

We are doing our best to squeeze in some back-country skiing before the snow leaves the mountains. Nicki and I got out with a few friends for some fun, earned turns.

Here is Nicki enjoying a break at the top with her doggies.

Bye for now.

"Spring" Break

The family had a great time on our "spring" break adventure. Most people enjoy going south to warm places like Hawaii, California, or Jamaica, but for some reason we decided to go north....to Fairbanks.....to the cold. Nicki argued that, "it's after spring equinox, as you go north there is more daylight." She is technically right, but some palm trees would have been nice. Actually, it wasn't a bad trip and we saw lots of cool stuff and had a great time.
It all started out with some volcanic activity. Redoubt decided to puke some ash all over us the day before we left. It basically made the air smell like sulfur and the sky get smokey. I put some pantyhose over the air intake of the car and we were ready to go. Here is a picture of ash trying to blot out the sun.

The first night of our spring (sheesh) break was spent wallowing through hip deep snow to get to this Public use cabin near Talkeetna. It was a fantastic sod roofed cabin that used tree burls to make shelves on the inside and benches on the outside.
Here is a picture of the cabin. If you click on the photo and look closely at the snow on the roof, you can see a layer of ash.

Here is a video Leo enjoying himself on the shores of a FROZEN lake. He could have just as easily done this on a sandy beach, in my opinion. Listen for the "weee"'s as he is rolling around.

North to Fairbanks now. Near Denali park we saw some Caribou. We had never seen any in the wild before. Now we have seen about 30. Here is a picture of them getting dumped on with snow during our "spring" break.

The next night we stayed at some hot springs outside of Fairbanks and then off to another public use cabin. Here is Nicki tailgating outside of the cabin with some pina colada. Very warm and sunny sounding, right. You got the sunny part right.

The sun Lingered on the horizon long enough to take a hundred pictures of it through icicles. Here is one of the better ones.

After getting a bunch of water to drip on the camera, it fogged up and created a kind of cool effect. Here is Leo with Sam the Fox and his baby lion (the pillow).

We spent the rest of the time hanging out in Fairbanks and visiting with our friends mom who let us crash at her house for 2 nights. Thanks, Sally!
We came back on Friday and spent the weekend skiing. I hope all of you in the northern hemisphere are enjoying warmer temperatures. Our snow is quickly melting and we are getting some 50 degree weather. Finally, a SPRING break!

Mountains, Ski Train, and Volcanoes

We have had an adventurous couple weeks here with lots of skiing, skijouring, and train riding. Here is a picture of me on my first splitboarding trip on top of Mt Gordon-Lyon. You can see the mountains above our house to the far left way in the background.

I also had the opportunity to get on board the annual ski train. It's an event put on by the Anchorage nordic ski club. About 500 skiers climb on a train, travel 130 miles to a spot off the road system, ski for 3 hours, and then get back on and go home. To top it all off they have a live polka band.

The car I was seated on was a bit of a wild one. Here are some happy passengers at 10:00 am.

Thankfully, the ride back was a little more subdue. Between the party on the way up and skiing, I think some of them were a bit worn out. Here is a picture of the unloading of the train and people getting ready to ski.

Here is the engine with people enjoying a bonfire (behind the mound of snow.)

As many of you have probably heard Mt Redoubt has been causing some commotion around here. I was able to take a picture of it from South Anchorage just after sunset. The picture is of a steam plume erupting a few days before the bigger eruption.

All for now.

Ididarod and Puzzles

Nicki had her life long dream come true this past weekend. She got to go to the Iditarod. We were greeted with sunny skies and and a windless day out on Willow lake. Here is Nicki beside herself with excitement.

Here is a picture of one of the mushers with his team.

We went with 3 other families who all had kids under 6 years old. We built a fire, pitched a tent, made snow couches, and had an all around good time. Here is Leo after a lot of excitement and one too many marshmallows

I've been exploring a new hobby over the last few months. Wooden puzzle making has been a great creative outlet and way to spend down time. Not to mention, a great way to make Leo cheap new toys. Here is a school bus.

And here is what I'm calling a landscape puzzle.

We're shaking off the winter blues around here with lots of sunshine and 40 degree days. It's a welcome change.

Ram Valley

Nicki and I dumped the kid at childcare last week and completed a trip that we have wanted to do for a very long time. Looking up the hillside our yurt sits on you can see a snowy point. Here is a photo of it marked with a blue "A". Raina Peak is behind it.

I went up here in December with Nicki's parents but it was really snowy and visibility was bad. This time, however, it was a brilliantly sunny and windless day. Here is a photo of Nicki making her way to A point (not seen off to the right).

From the top we could look back down at the yurt. Many people have asked me if we have any neighbors. Well here is a photo of the yurt (centerish) and our neighborhood taken from A point.

While up there, Nicki got this fabulous shot of ranger jumping. Click on it and see if you can spot the cookie he is going for.

This is the view looking down river towards the town of Eagle River with the Knik Arm (water) and the Alaska range in the background.

And this is what it looks like looking up river. Raina Peak is on the left, Ram Valley further to the right, Cumulus mountain in the middle, and Eagle River Valley is on the right. Click o it to get a better view.

As the crow flies, a point is about a mile from our house. Nicki and I were driving in the car the other day and we made the astute observation, "We live in a yurt in Alaska." Sometimes it still feels strange and unbelievable. I hope you all get to visit some time and share this with us.